"And if indeed I cast the brand away, Surely a precious thing, one worthy note, Should thus be lost forever from the earth, Which might have pleased the eyes of many men. Were it well to obey then, if a king demand The king is sick, and knows not what he does. So might some old man speak in the aftertime But now much honor and much fame were lost." And so strode back slow to the wounded King. Then spoke King Arthur, breathing heavily: "What is it thou hast seen? or what hast heard?" And answer made the bold Sir Bedivere: "I heard the water lapping on the crag, And the long ripple washing in the reeds." To whom replied King Arthur, much in wrath: Laid widowed of the power in his eye That bowed the will. I see thee what thou art. In whom should meet the offices of all, Thou wouldst betray me for the precious hilt; Either from lust of gold, or like a girl Yet, for a man may fail in duty twice, And the third time may prosper, get thee hence: I will arise and slay thee with my hands." Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran, And, leaping down the ridges lightly, plunged And flashing round and round, and whirled in an arch, Shot like a streamer of the northern morn, So flashed and fell the brand Excalibur : Then spoke King Arthur, drawing thicker breath: So great a miracle as yonder hilt. Then with both hands I flung him, wheeling him; And answer made King Arthur, breathing hard: My end draws nigh; 't is time that I were gone. Make broad thy shoulders to receive my weight, And bear me to the margin; yet I fear My wound hath taken cold, and I shall die." So saying, from the pavement he half rose, And would have spoken, but he found not words, But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge, He heard the deep behind him, and a cry The bare black cliff clanged round him, as he based And the long glories of the winter moon. Then saw they how there hove a dusky barge, Dark as a funeral scarf from stem to stern, Beneath them; and descending they were ware That all the decks were dense with stately forms Black-stoled, black-hooded, like a dream-by these Three Queens with crowns of gold—and from them rose A cry that shivered to the tingling stars, And, as it were one voice, an agony Of lamentation, like a wind, that shrills All night in a waste land, where no one comes, Or hath come, since the making of the world. And to the barge they came. There those three Queens But she that rose the tallest of them all And fairest, laid his head upon her lap, And loosed the shattered casque, and chafed his hands, And called him by his name, complaining loud, And dropping bitter tears against his brow Striped with dark blood: for all his face was white And colorless, and like the withered moon |